The Walking Dead: Finding Joy
by Kylie Gibson
Summary: This is NOT a challenge any more... Or it is, but I will also be writing chapters, too. It's confusing. Story: A girl named joys is stuck in a Zombie apocalypse by herself and stumbles upon the main story group. This will not follow the TV series completely, but will a little.
1. Prologue

...Prologue...

Joy jogged down the abandoned street of some unknown town in the middle of no where. She was, again, searching for anything useful and any salvageable food from the dead, empty houses of this ghost town. Oh, have I forgot to mention, something? I have, in fact, done just that. Joy is living, all alone, in a Walker-infested world. Depressed by her inability to find other survivors, she struggles to live, but goes on in hope of finding more like her... Alone.

(First Chapter/Prologue is strictly an info page so that I don't need to stray from to main point of chapters just to describe her)

**Warning! I do not own The Walking Dead! I only own my characters and my plot! **

**Extra Warnings! Joy is an "outcast" or a "Wallflower" and may have the description **

**of what some call "emo" or "goth". SHE IS NEITHER! If you don't like then please do**

**not read! It is very frustrating to see hate comments. Wallflowers and outcast can live**

**through an apocalypse, too, you know! Thank you bunches!**

...Joy's Appearance...

Body info::

Name: Joyce Valenti (Va-l-eh-n-tai)

Gender: Female

Age: 16 (DoB: April 10th)

Height: 5'3" - 5'4"

Weight: 120 lbs

Skin color: Healthy-porcelain color

Body Type: Skinny, strong, flexible, fast (Relies mainly on body strength and knives for close encounters). A tattoo of a flower petal on her right ankle (Her two best friends also share the same tattoo).

Eyes: Crystal blue (wears glasses (I'll let you, the reader, decide what they look like)).

Hair: Waist length, dark-brown (Always kept in a french plait down her back).

Facial Description: Small nose, cupid bow lips (naturally pouted), small ears (but has great hearing), slightly big eyes, sharp features over all. Her right nostril is pierced. Her ears are pierced (Right: Two in her lobe and a bar at the top. Left: Two on her lobe and a stud at the top.).

Clothing and weapons::

Clothing: Grey tank-top, black-Nike-athletic running shorts, tennis-shoes, black-athletic-mid-calf shocks. A Mickey Mouse hoodie and a thick jean jacket over it when it gets cold.

Exterior Weapons: (originally hers before apocalypse)~ 22 caliber hand gun, strapped to her right thigh~ a Schrade, double sided, 6 inch blade, with a pink handle, strapped next to the 22~ a hunter cross-bow, always on her back, over her back pack. (originally her fathers before apocalypse)~ 9-11 tactical, 9mm hand gun, strapped to her left hip~ 270 caliber rifle, always around her left shoulder for emergency use ONLY~ a hunting compound bow, which lays over her backpack and her cross-bow~ a hatchet with a hooked top, strapped to the left side of the backpack~ a Normark, one-sided, top hooked, 6 inch knife on her left arm.

(Pretty bad-ass right? Not. Joy would have had more weapons, had she taken her sisters, but decided against it and buried them along with said sister.)

Inventory (Backpack, pockets, etc..)::

Backpack:

First Section(Bottom to Top); a blue bed-sheet, red-8 x 6 fuzzy blanket, two kitchen knives beside the blanket, 13 paper plates, 3 water bottles, 2 fork's, 1 spoon, 4-6x4 pictures in an envelope.

Second Section(Bottom to Top); Small frying pan, small 4 inch pot(big enough for a soup can), pot stirrer/wooden spoon tucked beside the pan and pot, 3 can of double noodle soup, 1 can of chicken noodle soup, 2 bottles of water, an open box of children's chew-able Advil(7 left), an unopened box of children's chew-able Advil(24 count), a bottle of cold medicine, small first aid kit(6 band-aids, two roles of 6 foot medical wrap, 10 alcohol wipes, travel sized bottle of peroxide, tweezers, 3 thin rags).

Small front pocket(1); Three pocket knives, two black inc pen, a pencil, small note pad, 5 2x4 pictures (Dad, Mom, Sister, Sister and Joy, hole house hold including dog (Lord of Lards)).

Small front pocket(2); 7 extra hair bands, two athlete head-bands.

Two side pockets; Hatchet and a camera with some family photos.

Family info::

House hold(at time of the attack): Mom (Tracey(39)), Dad(Hadrian(42)), Sister (Hope(11)), Dog(Lord of Lards(3))

Alive: Unknown (Mom and Dad took dog to vet before Joy and Hope saw the Walkers)

Dead: Hope (Had type one diabetes, died 6 days after first walker sighting after an attack of low glucose), Carissa (Joyce's friend, died by running out to her mom who was a walker: gunned down by unknown person after being bitten.(Gunner: dead)).

Bio: Joyce is a loner at heart, but cares deeply for though that can brake her shell. She and her sister were close and shared everything with each other. Joy isn't that close with her parents. Her parents started paying more attention to Hope after Joy had accidentally bumped into a kid, knocking them off the play ground one day, sending the kid to the hospital. The small neglect increased once they found out about Hopes diabetes. Joyce is diagnosed with severe depression, after having an anxiety attack due to lack of attention from her parents.

She and Hope went to a privet school and she made strait A's. This put a lot of pressure on her as her parents expected to never see a B on her reports. She had two friends, not including Hope. Carissa and Alexander(Alex). They did everything together and you would never find them apart.

Though Joy has depression (going back to that), and the fact that she doesn't have her sister anymore, her has kept living in hopes of finding other survivors or even her parents.


	2. Chapter 1: You Called?

Chapter one: You Called? Or screamed whichever you prefer.

Warning! Strong language and Gore!

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(Joy's POV)

_Shit.. There are Walkers everywhere in this house! Was their a party here or something? God, what a freak party to have dead people come in and eat you. I guess I'll just have to move on to another house. _I thought to my self. I stepped out of the door way that I had peeked through and quietly closed the door. I was pissed. There was some pretty good shit in there and I had to bail because of a bunch of Flesh Munchers. You would get pissed too if you saw the amount of booze stashed away.

I'm not trying to get them to get drunk though. It is getting colder and it is said that alcohol can warm you up. I have a jacket sure, but I'm stuck in track shorts! How stupid is that? I sigh and Walk away from the house and continue jogging to the next house. Your probably wondering how I can jog when I loOK like a walking armory. Well I was on the track team at school and was in gymnastics for a few years, too. This... This was nothing.

I came up to the next house and peeked in. _Empty. Fuck yeah! _I walked in silently and cracked the door just enough for me to make a quick escape and not have to worry about the handle getting stuck or something like that.

Hey I'm a paranoid teen that watches way to many movies about stupid white chicks that don't have a big enough brain to think, "Oh! What's that noise? It sounded scary! Let me NOT go check it out. 'C ya'." So, taking my own advice, I did a quick walk though of the house and left all doors fully open and the front and back doors cracked.

I when into the kitchen and looked threw the pantries. Holy shit! Jack pot! There is a freakin' grocery store in here! I picked a house that had once homed couponers (The smartest dooms day preps out there). I walked away and into one of the bedrooms. It looked like it was owned by a teenage boy at some point. Foot balls and basket balls everywhere.

I quickly found a sports bag and dumped out its contents onto the bed. There was sports tape and a couple band-aids, but that's about the only things I'm willing to take. Walking back to the pantry, I stuffed canned food and a couple non-expired candy bars and chip bags. There was two cases of 24 pack water bottles... Shit.

_How the hell am I suppose to carry all this crap? _I put the bag down and crept to the only door I have left closed. The garage. I normally don't open this particular par over the house because scavenger normally set up fire traps to burn out all the zombie... But since this house is seemingly untouched, I have to grow a pair and open the door. I slowly open the door and have to cover my mouth to stop the joyful scream threatening to come out of my throat.

In this beautiful house is a truck. A ducking fucking truck! YES! I rush over to said, white, 4x4 ford and open the drivers side. _Keys, I need the keys. _I look all around the truck and then pause, _What idiot would keep their keys in their truck? _I hop out and run into the house.

I scavenge the place and find that the keys are nowhere to be found. Jump start it? Yup, jump start it. It was a good thing that I saw the truck had mufflers, because it is going to be a long a loud start up. I look through the garage and find wire cutters and pliers that would do just fine for the job at hand. I is a good think Alex taught me how to high jack he dad's truck when we were 13 or I would be so lost right now.

After about three minutes I finally get the truck to start. Oh yeah, I'm good. Clap for me, will ya'? I laugh to myself and rush back inside. After a few trips back and forth between the house and the garage I have collected the two cases of water, all unexpired food that doesn't need refrigeration. Pots, pans, utensils, plates, bowls. I only scored six and a half bottles of alcohol, but still, it's better than none. I have all the blankets and pillows I could find, matches, candles, clothes (Even if some of the articles where boy clothes. Hey, I'm lucky the dude was small and skinny. He was probably 12 or 13), I also scored a pair of track shoes from the mom. What small feel she had. Wow, book reference much?

I found a tent and added in to the goods in the trailer bed. I took the tarp and hooks that were hanging from a shelf and covers the back to make sure nothing would go loose on me. Finally I grabbed the two gas containers in the corner and looked in them. A full one and an almost empty one.

_It's better than nothing. _I took the lesser one and put it in the tank to at least get me a little more gas. I'm going to save the full on for when I NEED it. I put the full one in the back seat and take off my pack, rifle, and the bows and put them in the seat beside me. OK, anything else? I'm sure I grabbed everything... I'l just do a run trough of the house really quickly.

I take my 22 out of its holster to have it ready, not that I don't have my bows. I got everything that's for sure. So, I look out the window to check for Walkers, none. I go back to the truck and get in. Pressing the garage button, I suddenly had the erg to face-palm. No power, idiot. I replace my gun and walk over to the garage door and manually push it open, jumping slightly to get it up more. I have enough room to slip the truck out without breaking something. Yes!

OK, now may I leave? I have gone back to this truck so many times, you probably have "truck" stuck in your head. OK, I'm backing out now. I drive passed at the other houses, not bothering to take anymore. Gotta leave some stuff for the others out there. If there are any. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to finish all this food on my own.

I leave to and start to drive towards the mountains. I can finally get there faster! This is great. I have been trying to get up to this damn mountain for months. Wounder why I haven't found a truck till now? Oh well. Thirty minutes into the mountain and I start to hear this blaring car horn. It's moving away so I know that someone is driving it. I probably caught up to them dew to how fast I was driving. Hmm. About 80, 85? Suddenly a white van plus out of a hidden dirt roan behind my and they have to slam of their brakes to stop from hitting me.

_People... Actual people... _Holy balls this was going to be a better day that I thought. The car honks and the speeds up beside me. I slow down a little and the role down their window.

"Hey!" They screamed over to me, not knowing that I can HEAR PERFECTLY FINE!

"Don't yell at her, she's not deaf, I think?" I like this guy. He looked around 30, blonde-ish, light brown hair?

"Yeah, I'm not. Are you?" I look over long enough for them to see my raised eyebrow.

A blonde haired chick suddenly spoke up from the back, "What are you doing up here?"

I looked at her as if she were crazy, "Dude," I started, "This is a _mountain. _It's secluded and there nothing up here... Well, 'cept for you." I looked back at the road noticing a red card before it turned and slowed down.

"This is our stop," the man with blownde (my mixture of brown and blonde, since this man hair didn't want to decide). "You want to follow us in?" Cut in the blonde chick.

Of course I would want to. What are they stupid. "Of course I would want to!" I smiled and laughed as I eased up and they sped in front of me. They slowed down to turn as did I. When I pulled in I saw everyone flocking around the screaming red sports car.

When the noise finally stopped I made a tch sound. I hopped out of my truck and closed the door loud enough to gain some attention. "Sup."

I noticed how the blownde dude and the blond chick looked my up and down, while the rest of the people looked at me in shock.

"Tch, uhhh. You guys OK?"

The blownde man spoke, "How old are you?"

OK... So I look young for my age, big deal, but really... How did they not see the fact that I wasn't an adult while we were driving? "Ah..."

I was cut off by some people walking out of tents and a camper.

"Dad!"

"Rick!"

Suddenly a woman and a boy ran up the the blownde man, Rick, as I have just found out, and promptly started hugging him. Ewe, old people kissing alert. They need to get a room.

"Lori! Carl!" So I'm also guessing that the woman is Lori and the boy is Carl. Wow, I'm learning names faster that I thought I would. Saves for introduction.

"Rick, Lori, Carl. Rick, Lori, Carl." I said quietly. Yup I'll remember their names.

"Rick!" Another man ran out, he defiantly had dark-brown hair. Thank you stranger for having smart hair.

"Shane!" OK... So dark-brown haired man's name is Shane... Should I say my name and make it a full circle? Nah.

"Who's this?" A man with a squirrel and a cross-bow said.

"Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Joyce. Joy is except-able." I fix my glasses and look and the man. I feel threatened. He's not dangerous, no, but I wanted to be the cool one with a cross-bow. _Fuck him, at I know how to use a real one. _

"What are you, like, 12?" Came a new voice. It was a pudgy man with thick fingers and a red face. An abuser. I could tell. If you look closely you can see some bruises that are just barely noticeable on his knuckles and the woman beside him was skinny and leaning away with her arms protectively around the little girl in front of her.

I didn't speak as I analyzed him. I suddenly look over the the girl with questioning eyes only she would understand. She shrunk away slightly and I frowned. This mans not going to make it, if I can help it.

"Humph. I'm 16." I crossed my arms and scowled, _stupid asshole beats on girls and insults newcomers. Jack ass._

Cross-bow guy snicked, "I like her."

I uncrossed my hand and stretched my arms up and to the side a few times. "Who's the leader of the camp. Or who are the people that are normally calling the shots?" Everyone looked at each other and started murmuring. "OK..." I said slowly, "Who here deals with the food?"

Cross-bow guy and old man from the top of the camper raised their hands and a big black man stepped forward. "I'm Daryl," that was cross-bow guy.

"I'm Dale." Crazy looking old man from the top of the camper.

"And I'm Theodore, but you can call me T-dog," Said the big black man. I liked him. I looked like one of those teddy bears that looked rough on the outside, but were soft to cuddle.

"Why do you need them?" Shane asked.

I motioned for the men to fallow me, not realizing everyone in the camp followed. I was about to remove the tarp when I saw everyone. Did I not say just the people who deal with food?

"Why are you all following? Shoo! I only said the people all of _you_ trust, with the food, to see this. I don't trust the rest of you to not try and take anything." I looked pointedly and the abuser and everyone, but the three men and Lori, the abused woman and her daughter (I'm guessing), and blonde chick (who I like and somewhat trust) left. The abuser looked like her wanted to punch something.

"Your hair is long." That was the little girl. She was about the same height as me, maybe an inch or two shorter, but clearly younger.

"Thank you." I smiled. I turned to Lori, blonde chick, and abused woman. "Why did you say, not that I mind, it was just the few sketchy people I wanted to leave."

Daryl smirked and the rest chucked slightly. That eased the tension a lot. "We stayed because we cook the food and help out mainly with that sort of thing," Lori said.

"OK. May I ask for names?"

"Lori." New that.

"Andrea." Blonde haired chick has a pretty name.

"I'm Carol and this is my daughter Sophia." I smiled.

"You have a very pretty name, Sophia. Your name means that you are wise and smart. I can see that you hold a lot of wisdom, that will help you greatly in this world." I smiled and she smiled back with a small giggle.

"Now," I began again, "Where were we?" I pulled off the truck belts and tarp. The were a collection of gasps from the small group. "Yeah, I know right. Raided a house with a stock pile. Anyone up for canned meat and veggies?"


	3. Chapter 2: The River

**Ok, so I have decided to continue on with the third chapter because ... reasons. I have realized that since no one is going to take this challenge that I either A) am going to take this down; or B) I'll add a forth chapter and if this turns into a "Please write more, we want you to continue the story," thing, then I will take it off complete and start writing it as a regular story.**

**Also to a reviewer call "****Anon" - Yes I realize that a lot of people are going to have depression now that the apocalypse has started, the point is, is that she had depression ****_before _****the apocalypse, and the situation she's in now is making it worse. Thank you for your review, as I realize that this point was a little shaky on it's explanation.**

**Also I have toned down some of the language. There is still language, but no as much. **

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><p>It's been a month since I have been with the group. We had to move from our first location because Glenn's car alarm fiasco, lead a hoard of zom-zoms strait to us.<p>

I have made friends with a lot of the people on the camp. Rick's a squeamish little girl in a man body ... Don't tell him I said that. His wife, Lori, is almost like the "camp counselor", though, I don't know why, since she is horrible with solving peoples problems, and the fact that she has created a love triangle, great ... Note my sarcasm. Carl is ... Carl. I like him, but he acts like a trigger happy moron, sometimes, and we haven't even given him a gun yet.

Shane is a piece of work. I don't like him one bit. Oh, and he tried to get me killed. Yeah, that was fun.

Carol is really nice, she lets me hang out with Sophia. Sophia is as adorable as always, though, she's shy and sometimes doesn't know how to respond to something new. Carol's fat lard of a husband is dead and I had a party, in my head of course, cant sent bad examples on the kitties.

Theo, or Big T, as I like to call him, is a giant teddy bear. He's also really worm, which is why I normally put my sleeping bag close to his. I mean, seriously, I could be three feet away from him and _still _feel the heat from him. It's crazy!

Glenn and Dale are on my "I like you a lot" scale. Glenn is funny and always volunteers to be the bate with me. Everyone else normally just pussy out and fit over who goes, then I step up and say, "Hey! You people are going to attract more flesh-munchers by all this fighting, then we will never get out of this situation. I'll go, you overgrown wimps." Then Glenn would step in and say, "I'll go too, no reason to do it alone, right?" I can tell he's scared, which is why I like him. Facing your fears! Go Glenn!

Dale is like that grandpa that you never had, really nice and always takes care of you, but can be really annoying at times. Yeah, that's him. He wants to drive down the highway, so that we can find supplies in the cars. I suggested we go on the left side of the road, or, as I like to call it, the road that isn't backed up. He says we go on the backed up road, because that's where all the exits we need are ... WE CAN CUT ACROSS! WE AREN'T APART OF THE LAW ANY MORE! BRAKE THE DAMN LAW!

Daryl likes me now, after that whole dispute. Well, I should say he "likes me", more like: I respect you a little more now. Which is awesome, cause now he has stopped calling me an emo/goth and all that jazz. Seriously, we are being attacked by zombies and in the middle of a fight he screams out, "Hey emo! Get your pale ass over here! We need help, and don't start bitching like all you emos do. Hiya!" The hiya part was because he was hitting a walker, but I just needed to break the "tension". Cough, asiftherewasany, cough.

Andrea is still depressed over her sister. I sit with her sometimes, knowing how she's feeling. Oh yeah, Amy died, oops, forgot to mention that. Sorry ...

I think that's every one I want to mention. Yep, pretty much. So here we are now, traipsing through cars, on the RIGHT side of the road. Really, Dale? I know your the one with the RV, but seriously.

"Hey, princess! Get over here, I want to ask you something." Ooh, that's me.

I walk carefully through the cars, over to where Daryl is and plop down in the street beside him, "What?" That came out a little stiffer than I had planned.

Daryl looked at me with narrow eyes, "Not that I care, but stop giving the evil eye at Dale. It's creeping everyone out."

_What? _I think to myself, _what a wonderful wor ... Shit what was I about to think. God damn song, god damn world. It's not wonderful. _I look at Daryl, "Uh, yeah, I'm not giving Dale the evil eye. You're just imagining things."

"Really, princess? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you just scowled at him."

I roll my eyes, "That's a scowl, not the evil eye. Gosh, neck, get it right."

Daryl growled a little, "Stop calling me 'neck'."

"Stop calling me princess."

"You first!"

"That's childish, Daryl."

"Shut up!"

"Real mature."

Shane stepped in, "Why don't you two go hunt, move a head of us and look for a clear path, or check the perimeter for walkers, or something. The kids are listening."

"Yeah, that would be best." That was Rick. I love how Rick always steps in and agrees with someone else, to make himself look more like the authority. It's funny.

"You got it, ranger Rick." I smirk and Daryl snorts before walking over to his bike.

"Come on, _princess._"

"Coming, _neck._" I hope on the back of his bike and he kicked it off.

We were silent as he drove ahead. About twenty minutes into the drive I heard something. "Daryl. Daryl, stop."

He stopped and I got off the bite. I got low to the ground and put my ear to the paithment.

"What are you doing?"

"Sh!" I feel a couple thumps and stand back up slowly. I look around and behind us, trying to see what made the noise. Walkers. They were heading towards the group .. and them.

"Daryl, we have to go!" Just as I said that he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a fast sprint. We ran into the woods on the side of the highway, dodging trees and climbing up steep dirt mounds. We looked behind us to see that there were walkers everywhere. It was almost like they were just appearing out of nowhere.

I hear Daryl gasp and then we're falling. I snap my head back and look down to see the Daryl yanked up off a fucking cliff. A FUCKING CLIFF! My heart races as I look at the water, which was thankfully their, below. "Daryl!" I scream. We hit the water and I panic. I don't know how to swim. I have always been afraid of water, though I don't know why. I try to kick my feet and move my arms in a swimming motion, being as calm as possible, but I'm only sinking, faster. I stop moving and quickly try and relax my muscles, then try again. Still, nothing is working.

I mentally slap myself as I feel tears come to my eyes. _Where's Daryl? _I look around the water and have to shake my head. My vision starts to darken and I kick faster. I have to stop, as I feel myself getting tired. I let out my breath in desperation, my mind clouded and working on auto pilot, making me swallow the water.

I fell myself hit the bottom of the body of water I'm in. _What type of body of water am I in?_ Then everything goes black. _I must be in a lake ... or the ocean. Nooo, not this close to the highway._

Time Skip

"Joy!"

"Joy! Please wake up! Please!" I heard a panicked voice calling. I felt lips on mine and then air being rushed into my lungs. I cough and sputter. I feel a pair of hands roll me on my side as I spit up water.

I flop back to my back and breath, "I hate water." There was no chuckle though, only the same hands moving me into a sitting position.

"Dammit, princess. You scared me. I didn't see you surface and you were under for so long ..." The voice stops. I slowly open my eyes and curl my legs into a criss-cross. I lean forward and my forehead is met with a shoulder.

"Thanks, Daryl." I let out a shaky breath and cough again. Daryl pats my back. I close my eyes and ask, "Where are we?"

"I don't know. When I saw the water and jumped, there were no signs that said what the river was called. Luckily," he paused, "it was a deep river. Unluckily," he paused again, only this time for a little longer, "it was a deep river, _and _there is no way back up, that I can see."

I sigh, "Great, my stash is up there. Damn."

"Yeah, but there is a house behind us. No walkers have come out yet, with all the noise I've been making, so it might be clear. Want me to check it out?"

I nodded and start to get up. He pushes me back until I laying down and motions for me to stay. I nod and he leaves.

A couple minutes later I hear walking and sit up. Turning I smile, "Clear?"

"Clear," he smirks back and hold a hand out to me, "come on, princess."

"Neck."

"Shut up," he helps me up and half carries me as I shakily move towards the house. We get inside and he picks me up and carries me up to the second floor. There's a bedroom up here, but just one. He put me under the covers and I snuggle in.

"Get some sleep. It's almost dark and we need to get moving in the morning. I lock up the doors, okay?"

I nod and close my eyes, thinking of how this place smelt oddly of baby powder.

Time skip

The next morning I wake up to light snoring. It's still dark out, but I can tell that in a couple hours, the sun will rise. Almost like an instinct. I sit up and remember the events of yesterday, which explains the slight headache.

I see Daryl sitting in a chair in a corner of the room, close to the bad and shake my head. I slowly get up and move over to him. "Daryl?" I shake his shoulder and he gowns.

"Daryl, get up, come on, you can have the bed now."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"Alright, it's settled then. You get the bed." He grumbled and I pulled on him. His body flopped to the ground and I held in a laugh. "Seriously, Daryl. If you don't get up, I scream and attract all the walkers in the area."

"Bitch."

"You know you love me." He growled and got up. As I made my way passed him, to sit on the chair, he swooped me up and crawled into the bed. I was about to ask him to let me go, but heard nothing but the light snores. I sighed and closed my eyes, falling asleep once more.

A couple hours later I woke again. I felt Daryl's arms wrapped around me and his face in my hair. Damn. I blushed and tried to move away, only to feel his arms tighten. I was going to wake him up, but realized that I didn't hear the quiet noise of his breath.

"Don't move," he whispered, "there are people in the house. They're not walkers, but people. If they find us, it would be better if they thought we were asleep. Just, stay calm." He sounded panicked. I couldn't blame him. If these people were hostile, then it wouldn't matter if we were asleep or not. We were dead.

I closed my eyes again and hid my hands when I felt them start to shake. Dammit. Daryl slowly turned me over and cradled me, soothingly rubbing my back as my breath started to become loud. I cursed myself. I was going to get us caught. Then, the one thing I hoped wouldn't happen, the wood under the bed creaked.

Daryl and I held our breaths as everything in the house went silent. Then foot steps were on the stairs. A gun was cocked and the door was opening.


	4. Chapter 4: Big Baby

**Okay, so, I'm posting this chapter faster that I will the next chapter. Did that make since? I have no idea. Any way, I need more reviews, but I'm not going to stop posting because of this, because I'm not mean ... Well, most of the time.**

**Okay, so I missed the disclaimer last chapter: I don't own the Walking Dead, nor will I ever. I pony own the plot I'm using and my character(s).**

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><p><strong>(Third person POV ... because reasons)<strong>

Joy felt her shaky breaths leave her, and hid her face in Daryl's shirt, trying to hid her nervousness. Daryl rubbed her back slowly as she listened to the foot steps below. She felt Daryl stiffen and tried stop her shaking limbs. The floor underneath the bed had creaked, from her moving to much. She held her breath and felt Daryl doing the same.

_Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!_

Someone was coming up the stairs. As the footsteps got closer to the door, Joy started to panic. The was the tell-tale sound of a gun being cocked and readied, then the slow creaking as the bedroom door was pushed open.

Daryl stopped rubbing Joy's back as he heard the floor under the bed, they were residing in, creak. _Shit _he thought. He stopped rubbing her back and stiffened his muscles. He had luckily put one of Joy's hand guns under their pillow, while she was sleeping, fulling planing on crashing for another hour, when he heard some one enter the house.

No here he lay, protectively holding the girl he had hoped to get to know better (secretly of course). He shifted a little so that he was mainly shielding her from the door behind him. He kept his right eye half lidded, so he could see the door through the mirror on the opposite wall.

The steps of the person were getting closer and he held Joy tighter. Then the door was being opened. He watched as a man wearing "husband glasses", as he and Merle liked to call them. The gun in the mans hand was an old one, but looked new and ready to shoot.

The hand Daryl had under the pillow, tightened it's hold on the gun it was clasping. He was about ready to move were he heard, and saw, the man sigh. "Hey, honey?" The man whispered.

"Yes, Jim?" A woman hidden by a wall, who had come up with him apparently, whispered back, "What is it? Is it a zombie?"

"No, someone's here, though. They're breathing, so that means they're alive. Looks like two teens." Daryl mentally growled, _I ain't a teen, stupid. _

"Oh, Jim. What are we going to do?" The woman gasped, "Look at all their weapons! What if they make us leave? What about the baby?"

Daryl shifted a little and slowly sat up. The man jumped and woman, who was now visible, and holding a baby, muttered an "Oh my!". He took the gun out from under the pillow and put it in his pocket, slowly, as if to show he wasn't going to do anything.

Daryl felt Joy move behind him, but kept staring at the man, "We aren't going to do that. We just needed a place to rest. My friend here," he pointed to Joy," doesn't know how to swim and we were running from Walkers; I led us over the cliff on the other side of the house, we landed in the water, she almost drowned."

As Daryl said that he spared a glance downward at his clothes, "And, I forgot to get her new, _dry, _clothes." He looked apologetically at Joy, who was now beside him. She shrugged and smoothed her clothes. "We'll be going now though, we have to find a way back to the highway."

The man looked at Daryl strangely, "Why in the heavens would you want to go to the highway?"

"Yeah, it loaded with zombies. Very dangerous for a couple of kids," the woman added.

Daryl narrowed his eyes, "I'll have you know that I'm 35 **(AN: I'm guessing based on the whole "Daryl Dixon is suppose to be in his late thirty's early forty's in season 5" theory)**.

Joy nodded her head "And I'll have you know that I am very mat... Wait, really?" That last part was aimed at her friend. Daryl nodded and made a "duh" face at her. "Wow, I would have put you as at least early thirty's ... as in 31. You look really good for your age."

The not-so-31-year-old man rolled his eyes, "Stay focused, princess." Joy gingerly nodded and looked down.

"As I said, we're leaving." Daryl then got up and looked at the man and woman, who had observed the whole seen, "Could you give us some privacy?"

The man nodded and looked between the two, "Alright, but you don't have to leave right away. We could have lunch first, yeah?"

Daryl just nodded his head and closed the door behind them. Daryl then waited until he heard that the houses original occupants were far from the door.

"Why would you say something like that? '_Wait I didn't know you were 35'_" Daryl mocked.

"I didn't say that!" Joy defended.

Daryl seethed, "Yes? Well now their gonna think I'm some petto-bear, or some shit." He hit his hand to his face, "God dammit."

"Well, neck, you kinda are ... Just saying," Joy murmured quietly, "with the way you were holding me last night. Woo; possession issues, man." She tried to laugh it off, but stopped at the raging look that was being shot her was.

"Shut up."

"You such a baby! I was joking." She stuck her tongue out at him. She heard a low growl.

Daryl caught her tongue in his fingers, not enough to hurt, but just as a little warning, "Do that again and I'll cut yer tongue off. Got it?" Joy nodded and made an "ow" sound. Daryl let go of her mouth muscle and watched in amuse meant as she fanned her tongue.

She looked over for a split second and stopped, "Wha? I' hur'."

Daryl just thumped her lightly on the back of the head and went to gather his stuff. He waited be the door, patiently, and watched as Joy collected her things. She nodded to him and he opened the door for her.

They made their way downstairs and Daryl thought about slipping out of the house, only to realize that the kitchen door was ... in the kitchen and the front door was down the hall, passed the kitchen, which had an open area into the living room, witch opened to the hall.

_Damn, _Daryl thought. He and Joy made their way into the kitchen and watched as the woman finished putting out a small assortment of toast, eggs and orange juice.

Daryl and Joy were sat at the table and eating quietly, observing the small family in front of them. The woman's name was Molly, the husband was Jim, and their childs name was Timothy.

Daryl surprised Joy by asking, "How old's the kid?"

"Only ten months," Molly replied. "So, do you two have any family?"

"No-"

"Y-yeah," Joy gave Daryl a pointed look and continued, "In fact, they are out their, on the highway, probably worried about us. You see, Daryl's my uncle's, ex-wife's, fiance's, second cousin, who just so happens to live really close to us, and we joined up with their side of the family."

Daryl nodded slowly, _Smart girl, not giving out real information to a stranger. With everything going on, real info can be deadly. _

The mother looked between them an nodded, "Are you two together inti-"

"No!" They shouted, a glare and faked disgust(Daryl) were passed out to the parents sitting in front of them.

"Nope, she's not my-"

"And he's not my-"

"Gross, she a kid!"

Joy paused and slapped Daryl's arm, hard, "Excuse me! I am NOT a child, you neck."

Daryl got in her face and grunted, "Stop calling me that! And I didn't say that, I said kid." Suddenly Daryl was being hit with a dirty napkin, to the face, a smug look in the teens eyes. Daryl growled and crossed his arms, "We should get going." Daryl wiped his mouth on his napkin and set it on his plate.

"Yes, we should," Joy added.

"I just said that."

Before they knew it, two adults were laughing at them, "Are you at least friends?" That was Jim. He had a calculating and knowledgeable look planted on his face.

"Well yeah, why would we not be?" Joy asked. She looked at Daryl, eyes wide and thoughtful, for conformation and said man nodded.

Jim and Molly nodded to each other and smiled, "I think you two should be off now. Don't worry, we wont ell any one that you two aren't really related."

"Who said we weren't related?"

"Yeah, we never said that."

"We're related, not by blood, but in some sort of way we are."

"Everyone is considered related under the eyes of God."

"God's not real, Daryl."

"Yes he is."

"Then why are we stuck in this hell hole?"

Daryl hesitated, "Is too."

"Not."

"Too."

Not."

"Too."

"Too."

"Not. Wait." Daryl glared at his smaller companion.

Joy laughed, "You seriously need to start catching that."

Daryl just rolled his eyes and got up, the chair scraping slightly on the floor as he did so, "Thank you for the meal, and sorry about having to witness our disagreement ... s, as in plural." He blushes and ran a hand through his hair, _oops._

Joy nodded and got up too, with the help of Daryl, who had held out his hand. She smiled her thanks and patted him on the back.

"Goodbye." They all said as hands were shook between the four.

Daryl and Joy then made their way out of the house, the family waving after them, and started to walk over to a road. "Road's gotta lead to the highway at some point, ain't it, princess?" Daryl stated.

"Sure does, neck." Joy smiled at him and they began their gurney.


End file.
